Saving Nuada
by Gwenfarr
Summary: The Goddess and The Angel of Death cannot allow Nuada to die, so they play with the strands of fate! This story revolves around Prince Nuada. Some of the things that happened in Hellboy 2 will be here, but the strands of destiny have changed.
1. Slave

She glared at the blonde elven prince,  
"My name is NOT 'human.' For what it's worth, the name YOU demanded I use is 'Light', or don't you remember, Prince?" She said the title 'prince' with the same amount of distain he always used when he called her 'human', then she turned her back to him and crossed her arms.

Nuada's eyes flashed, "No matter how you might like to divorce yourself from your kind woman, 'human' is what you are."

In typical female fashion, she resolutely kept her back to him. Nuada's lips curved up slightly as he recalled a distant time when his sister Nuala used to employ this very same tactic on him whenever they had disagreed while growing up. Light had an experienced opponent when it came to dealing with females, and Nuada would not be swayed.

The pale elven prince wouldn't allow Light to feel she had won the point. His piercing amber eyes lightened to gold as they peered through long strands of his hair at her back, suddenly enjoying this cat and mouse game, and silently gauging what her response to his next words would be. "Very well then. I will refrain from calling you 'human'. I tire of this game, I am dirty from training. You will come and bathe me….."Golden eyes glittered as they watched for her response, "Slave."

That single word alone is what made her fists clench and her teeth literally grind. He replaced the inferred insult 'human' with 'slave.' Just one more slur. It wasn't his order that she come to bathe him that upset her. Did he think he was punishing her? Ha! To her, he was startlingly beautiful. She shook her head in disbelief. He had to know that; how could he not know it?

With her back still to him, she blinked as her mind ticked off points, 'Wait…. You want to get naked… and then have me rub soap all over your wet body? PPfftt…. Just fine with me goldilocks, let's do this.'

Unfortunately her thoughts were mostly bravado. Nuada made her nervous at the best of times, and he scared the piss out of her at the worst, but he was always, always incredibly desirable. Having to bathe him would be a new kind of torture. Nuada sought to provoke a response with his orders. She knew he wanted to get a rise out of her. However, this ploy would not have succeeded with the orders of the bath alone. It was when he used that word with a sneer in his voice that did it, "Slave." As if the very word itself, and the woman he referred to, were beneath him. Her mind raced. He wanted to see if she would refuse, or get flustered. Either reaction would be a bonus for him, he could punish her for one, and deride her for the other. But she'd turn the tables on her pale master, and give him his damned bath…calmly and professionally. It might be awkward….. but hell, if he could do it, then so could she. She wouldn't be the one naked. Did he think she'd be embarrassed enough to refuse? If so, then he did not know her very well at all and she would not back down.

But that word…. Slave. She was a strong woman in her own right. She was a leader of men damn it; she would not permit him to reduce her. She would not allow him to take her dignity, slave or not. Nuada watched her spine stiffen. One corner of his lips quirked up slightly at her silent anger. They had spent several days now in each other's reluctant company. During that time, the prince found that if he would not be permitted to kill her, or be rid of her, he would take whatever consolation he could get. There was one thing he enjoyed above all else. He enjoyed prodding her. Sometimes her tongue was sharp, and a battle of wits would ensue. He had started to relish the barbed arguments. As much as he hated to admit it, she was a worthy opponent. The mental gymnastics forced his mind to focus in ways it hadn't in many years. Although many times like this one, she said nothing, but her reactions were often amusing. He could practically see steam rising from her very pores. The dark lip curved upwards once again.

[He watched as her bulky sweat jacket was suddenly discarded, thrown to the floor in a fury, leaving her clad in a black tank top. His eyes narrowed. So, she would obey his order? Interesting. Sharp golden eyes watched as she kicked off her shoes and socks, then bent down to cuff her pants up to mid-calf, finally snatching the sea sponge almost viciously from the stone carved shelf. She was just reaching for the soap when he turned his back to her. Nuada stepped out of his black training pants and strode calmly into the shower chamber.

By the time she turned to follow him, she caught only a brief glimpse of long gracefully muscled porcelain legs and a rounded sinfully tight posterior disappearing into the shower. Even naked, he moved as regally as if he were clothed in his full armor. She felt her face flush and took a deep breath. Maybe she wasn't as prepared for this as she thought. 'Oh god, I can't do this…how am I supposed to do this?' Taking another deep breath she followed the retreating form.

The prince's personal bath chamber was much larger than expected, truly larger than was entirely necessary. Wink had carved his prince's bathing chamber lovingly. Although it was dimly lit, the walls were beautifully ornate; pictures and scrollwork adorned every inch. Two faery lights hung from the ceiling, and candles lined the walls, set into cubby holes made specifically for this purpose. On the far wall, warm water cascaded high out of the rock in an endless stream. Within a few foot drop, the rock suddenly jutted out dividing the water stream into two parts. One portion of the water went to the left side of the shower wall where more jutting rocks provided sprays of gentle droplets while a foot or two away to the right, the other half slid into a heavier sluice of water.

Nuada had already stepped into the heavy sluice, wetting his body down. He heard her enter the bathing chamber behind him. Keeping his back to her, he stepped backwards out of the spray, offering her his back so that she could wash him. Nuada waited patiently for her to gather her senses without saying anything. He wondered what her human mind was thinking right now. How angry was she? Embarrassed perhaps? Human's minds always seemed to run along the simplest lines. She was definitely very angry, he knew that well. He thought briefly that his little game might end up with her literally scrubbing the skin from his body in her anger. The thought amused him.

Without looking at him, Light quickly lathered up the sponge. The soap smelled like he did. It complimented him; mysterious and spicy. Not overpowering, but fresh and clean. It allowed his own personal scent to blend with it. She breathed in the aroma loving how it smelled. So perfectly masculine. Perfectly Nuada.

She turned to see him step backwards out of the shower, and was determined with her last breath to look as if she was unaffected by his body. "Don't look at his ass, don't look at his ass. He'll catch you looking. Don't look, don't look.' Oh damn…

She'd start reciting math equations in her head if that would help, or even imagine pictures of overweight men in speedos, but she would be damned if he would catch her looking at him with desire written across her face. If Nuada caught even a hint of it, he would sneer at her. He would only use it as another victory, yet another weapon. Light would not give him that pleasure. As she drew close to him, her eyes traveled up the long legs, pausing only momentarily at the firm buttocks before coming to rest on the broad expanse of muscled back. The water droplets glimmered on creamy skin, and sparkled like diamonds in the long blonde and golden tipped hair. She couldn't help but think that not even a master artist could reproduce something this magnificent.

She raised the lathered sponge in her left hand, about to begin her task, when her eyes, now becoming adjusted to the dim candlelit room, suddenly registered the thick puckered lines that marred the lovely ivory skin. They were everywhere. She had noted one or two from a distance that first night she had met him, but she had not seen all of them, nor given them much thought. He had been moving so quickly, training so hard, she had not had time to dwell on it, she had been afraid for her life. She hadn't seen him shirtless since then. Now, standing behind him this close, darting left and right, her eyes quickly took in for the first time all the scars that he bore. How deep and painful they must have been as well as the sheer number. She suddenly had a clear image in her mind of a younger Nuada, blonde hair swinging out in a brilliant ark in battle. He was injured; blood stained his skin, his hair. Injured and bleeding, surrounded by loss and chaos, yet continuing to fight. She almost heard an audible crack and a tinkling of glass as her heart started to break.

Nuada heard the soft footsteps as she padded up behind him. She stood only a few inches shy of his own 6' 1" height. Fairly tall for a human female, he felt her body's warmth and knew that she was there, but moments had passed and he had yet to feel the soapy sponge touch his skin. "What is wrong with this girl?" His brows drew down over suddenly amber eyes in consternation, wondering whether or not the human stood poised behind him with a brick aimed at the back of his skull. The magic of the slave bracelet would never allow her to hurt her master, but he turned his head slightly to peer at her over his right shoulder. He had expected anger. He had expected embarrassment, or rage. He would have welcomed a biting remark, or one of her flippant comments. Some part of him had even thought he might see desire written across her fine, almost elvish features, but he did not expect, out of all those things to see this…..

Her face was pale. The silver blue eyes were impossibly huge and sad…. The dark winged brows were drawn together in sorrow. For a brief moment, the elf's mind stuttered with a lack of understanding. 'Why?' but then realization hit him. 'The scars…' These days, he never really gave them much thought. They were simply a part of who he was. He knew of course that they existed; he had lived thru each and every one of them rather painfully. But he rarely paid any attention to them. That was until now. One golden eye studied the human female carefully over his shoulder as her fingertips slowly raised and reached tentatively toward the jagged pair of raised lines sprawled across his right shoulder blade. Nuada closed his eyes. Dipping his head, he faced forward again, silently acknowledging her exploration.

He could not help the automatic reaction. He flinched as the soft pads of Light's fingers gently came into contact with his skin. He felt them slowly trace the 2 deep scars on his shoulder, every jagged edge. She stood behind him, silently, carefully, mapping the damage that had been done so many years ago. Nuada heard a soft plop as the sponge dropped from her left hand into the water swirling at their feet. He felt her second hand join the first as Light moved her fingers very slowly from one scar to the next, covering every inch. Her eyes followed the touch of her fingers, and he stood still for it. His piercing golden eyes became lost in the swirls of water heading for the drain. He heard the change in her breathing, and then he heard, unbelievably, one soft wet sniffle, and then another.

Her voice hitched as she asked softly, "This one… tell me please, how you got this one…"

His sensual voice was as soft as hers, and held only a small edge of bitterness, "A human, just as most all of the others."

She nodded, "I know. Please tell me how."

He could not mistake the sorrow in her voice, there was no trace of mockery or gloating, so he obliged, "That one there; that your finger rests upon. That was a mace. I fought more than one, this one attacked from behind." A sudden image of the blonde prince fighting 3 disgusting, primitive, smelly humans appeared in her mind. One attacked Nuada from behind like a coward, the spiked vicious weapon ripping into him. This was not one of his memories, nor did she have any idea if it was even close to true, but she could envision it, and it filled her with pain. He heard her sharp intake of breath, and another sniffle, as her fingers found the next ugly wound and requested its source. He told her the particulars of each one that she asked about. He suspected that some of them she could not bear the details of and so she skipped them. Slowly he became aware that his eyes had closed, his whole being dwelled on the gentle fingertips cataloging his wounds, the softly voiced questions. The antagonism of the bath order was forgotten.

No one had ever done this before. No one had even tried. He wondered if he would have let anyone this emotionally close to him before now. There was only one. His sister Nuala was not with him in the long years of battle. She was safe behind the lines, in the fey strongholds. He knew that she bore many of the scars that he did, only fainter. She may have the scars, however she had not lived thru the horror of trying to stay alive in battle, of watching her friends and colleagues die around her, or the pain and the fear that your end was at hand when a weapon suddenly ripped into your body. She had never asked to see them, much less this odd tenderness. His father had been concerned. He always made sure Nuada was tended to. Balor loved his son, and was genuinely worried for him, often watching the healers as they worked on his injuries, but not like this. This was different. King Balor and Nuada's comrades were concerned for his survival. His body had lived thru each injury, but his soul had suffered. How could this human know that? How could she instinctively feel it? Of all creatures….. a human.

He could hear her behind him crying softly. Since the day she had come to him professing to want to help him and wearing his sister's bracelet, instead of accepting her as an ally even after he had read her thoughts to confirm her intentions, he had willfully injured her, spitefully insulted her, mistrusted her, and even tried to trick her into becoming his slave, all with the purpose of hurting her, as if he could somehow extract payment from this one human for all his pain. In all that, the only tears she had shed were unwilling ones of physical pain, but her heart had not cried until now. And now it cried not for all that the prince had done to wring it out of her, instead, her heart cried for him. Somehow, the thought bothered him.

Nuada suddenly felt her warmth very close to his back, her voice broke several times as she said softly into his ear, "I am so sorry….. for what my people have done to you. If I could somehow take it from you, I would."

Golden eyes snapped opened as he felt her lips press a kiss into the scar on his shoulder. She quickly turned, wiped her cheeks and grabbed the sponge from the shower floor. He should be furious that she touched him so intimately, but he was still reeling in shock. He stood perfectly still as she gently washed every trace of the sweat and training grime from his skin. He barely noticed as she came around to the front, and washed his chest, belly and legs on that side as well. So overburdened was her heart, that her mind only made one small comment into the silence, "Oh god, he is beautiful down there too. Why does he have to be so damned beautiful?" The thought was quickly shelved. It would do her no good. Although she would have liked nothing more than to be able to fully explore him, and to pleasure him, she avoided washing his private region entirely.

Nuada's mind paid no attention, for it still dwelt upon the kiss. It was a puzzle he needed to unravel. He supposed there could have been affection in it, in spite of his hostility towards her, but that was not its purpose. Healing is the word he would use if he had to describe it. Ridiculous, really. Leave it to a human, to try to heal an injury that had scarred over centuries ago, but that was what Light had meant by it. Again the elven mind ground to a halt. Ridiculous maybe, but he could not deny that his soul had basked in the attention. Why?

Light told him she was done with her task twice, but she got no response, golden eyes stared into space. She finally had to nudge him in the direction of the water to rinse off. Her heart ached. She had hurt him more by forcing him to recall old painful memories. Looking at him now, he was not like himself, he was unfocused and in fact he was barely present at all. She almost wished he would berate her for something. It was all her fault.

She quietly left the prince in the warm cascade of water. She walked barefoot to her small bed, threw herself down on it and sobbed mournfully into her pillow. Oh god, what was she doing here? She had destroyed her career, and probably her life by trying to find him, by wanting to help him see that his way of doing things was going to get him killed, if not all his people with him. He would probably kill her anyway once he was able to get the crown piece as promised from Nuala. Why had she thought for even a second that she could help anything? She should have just let the other detectives come with her, and done her job to catch him instead of trying to save the world, or more accurately, trying to save HIM. Saving him had somehow become more important to her then the world. He had killed 70 people in the auction house, it was her job to catch the killer, and all she had wanted to do from the moment she followed Hellboy into the Troll Market, and saw Nuada's face in his sister's memories was to save him. It was irrational, she knew it, and yet she could not escape it. Was it really only 10 days ago that this insanity started? That she had basically decided to give her life for a homicidal elven prince? She had offered to become his ally, and instead she was now his slave, and had succeeded only in hurting the male she had come to help. How the hell had she come to this? It felt like a lifetime, but it was only 10 days…

Eleven days ago…

All one hundred eyes on the feathered wings of the Angel of Death stared at the scene below him, the large crowned head tilted to one side as if considering why fate would choose to unfold in this way. The red demon, Hellboy, his friends and Prince Nuada were on the plateau of the Golden Army's resting chamber. Sadly, Princess Nuala, who was standing on the dais just above them, had plunged the elven dagger into her own heart in order to put an end to her twin brother. The Angel barely flinched as he suddenly became aware of the powerful presence that appeared beside him. It had been a very distinct possibility that the goddess would appear here. Her love and sorrow for Nuada and Nuala was great, therefore the angel wasn't very surprised.

He inclined his head respectfully in greeting, but did not transfer any of his many eyes away from the scene below him. The deity beside him dipped her head as well in polite acknowledgment of the demi-god, then she lowered her battle shield and placed it down softly upon the stone floor.

The angel of death spoke softly, "I knew you would be here goddess, my only question was which form you would take."

Exactly half of the eyes on his wings cut briefly to the warrior goddess standing beside him, then quickly returned to study the tragedy below, "Ah. The Morrigan. Very good choice, milady." Her beautiful lips smiled sadly, still saying nothing as she listened to the heartbroken words from the dying prince below.

"…Which holocaust should be chosen? We die, and the world will be poorer for it…."  
Unable to bear anymore of his pain, The Morrigan raised one hand gracefully, and a pure pulse of power emanated from her palm, combining with her softly spoken word, "Stop."

All movement below ceased, time itself stood still, not just here in this subterranean chamber, but in the rest of the world as well. Again, the Angel of Death was not surprised as he turned to face her slowly, fully taking in the sheer majesty and dignity of the goddess. She choose to appear today as the Morrigan, a celtic warrior goddess of old, her battle armor a briliant silver, her hair long and dark, the face… unspeakably lovely. But her eyes…. The angel of death, of all creatures, could appreciate eyes, and hers were like no others. Each of them were deep and black as a moonless night sky, seemingly endless. In her eyes, there were no pupils, instead.. …millions of stars, entire galaxies resided in her eyes.

She turned that powerful gaze upon him, her voice both whispered softly and sounded as loud as the ocean, "I am sorry brother. I should have asked your leave first, but I could not allow this."

He smiled widely, "I expected nothing less of you, and you know I claim no power before yours mistress."

She smiled, "But it was impolite of me."

They both turned to look at the frozen scene beneath them.

She continued in that vast, yet soft silky voice of hers, "He is right you know. The world will be poorer for their death. Your mind travels the pathways of the future just as mine does. For each possible path I have seen, the future only becomes bleaker still from this point on. Look then Azryel, and tell me your thoughts."

The angel of Death grinned toothily at her, "I have already looked goddess, many many times over the last centuries, wishing at each turn that Nuada and his family have taken, that they would have made different choices. I see no good coming of this, but I also see very few paths that may avert this very same end. The elven prince hates humans with a fury that he cannot seem to overcome."

The goddess gazed at him for a moment, "He has had good reason, brother. His life has not been kind. Nuada is a product of one tragic event after another, along with many poor choices; his own, his sister's, his father's and the fey and human races as well."

The angel flexed his wings, and laced his fingers together in thought, "True, very true. How would you change this? I cannot undo the death of King Balor, it is too large a milestone in the strands of fate, and Nuala cannot calm Nuada's rage, he is almost mad with it. The chances she had for healing him she allowed to slip past long ago. Of the many paths I have seen, there is still a great chance even if we stop this, that it will all come to this end yet again. Nuala no longer wants to try, even if she did, she would fail."

The goddess blinked, "His sister could never heal him now. No fey ever could. The only thing that can undo what harm humans have done, is simply….a human. You know we must prevent this end from coming to pass. The demon Hellboy's time has not yet come, and it was you who allowed his lover to save him, Azryel." She turned on him accusingly.

The angel of death shrank down in fear, "But she loves him so, I thought perhaps that her love might change the demon's path."

The goddess refused to dwell upon it, "So you gambled the fate of the world upon it, Azryel. That is another story, brother. Prince Nuada may be one of the few warriors who could stand and actually prevail against Anung Un Rama in the upcoming battles, you know this. If we allow the elf prince to die now, the chances for all the world decrease, both fey and human alike."

The angel nodded, "This is true, but if Nuada has his way and awakens the Golden Army, he will wreak as much havoc upon the world as the red demon himself. The Golden Army may well kill all the humans, but the fey creatures will be gone as well, Nuada just does not understand this."

The goddess stared him down, "Did you think I did not have a plan, brother? Am I not a strategist?"

The angel bowed deeply, all eyes closing in respect. The Morrigan continued, "I will put a human in his way."

The angel gasped, "Goddess, he will kill a human, male or female, just for breathing the same air he does."

"Not without our permission he won't, will he brother Azryel? I have the correct one in mind. She is a strong one."

The angel blinked, "I hope she is beautiful,"

The goddess tilted her head, "She is quite pretty, but not beautiful. Her spirit is formidable but I will give her passion."

One hundred eyes blinked in disbelief, "Passion? Goddess forgive me, but passion will do her no good with Nuada. She cannot make love to him with a silver spear run thru her body."

The fathomless eyes stared him down for his insolence, "She is passionate by nature, but what I speak of is a passion of _purpose_. I will set within her an all encompassing desire to save Nuada, to help him. The magic will give her strength, for he will not be easy to deal with."

The angel of death grinned hugely, "An understatement mistress. I suppose you have a time in mind to reset the pathways of destiny?"

She nodded, "Yes, of course. The night of the King's death. I will set her in his path, the passion I instill in her will do the rest, the choices will all be hers. She may surprise us, she is very resourceful."

The angel stared at the ground, he didn't want to doubt his goddess, but this was a tall order for anyone, much less a human who did not even know she had a mission to accomplish. "How did you choose her, goddess?"

"She has many qualities that Nuada will find hard to ignore, assuming of course, that she lives long enough. She has made a good life, and she has been betrayed as he has, she will understand his pain. She is spiritual Azryel, she has many statues of me in her home…. She speaks to me…. Always."

The angel blinked, "She prays?"

The goddess smiled, "No. She speaks. Always."

A double blink from the hundred eyes, "She has a statue of the Morrigan? That is odd these days, but…"

The goddess continued, "The Morrigan… Quan Yin,…. Shiva,…. Tara,… Shakti,… Ganesh….The Christ….. Shall I go on?"

The angel blinked twice again, "All of them? But, which religion does she subscribe to?"

The goddess smiled beautifully as if she had a secret, "None of them. Don't worry brother. She is unique, and she will love him, and even risk death trying to help him, I know her heart."

The angel was dumbfounded as the goddess continued, "If you do not mind, brother….. may I?"

The angel bowed low, for he was eager to see how the strands of destiny would change, if the addition of one simple variable would change things enough enough to avert this same end. "As you wish lady."

The star-eyed goddess again raised her hand, and time suddenly flowed backwards, quicker and ever quicker, the strands of fate rewound themselves back to the night of the Blackwoods Auction and the subsequent death of Old King Balor. The angel and the goddess allowed time to once again restart, and the angel immediately noticed a difference. There was a small group of people in the street outside of the auction house that weren't there the first time around. Hellboy exploded out of the 3rd floor window, landing with a crunch on top of a police car, the group of plain clothes detectives, and had their guns drawn while taking cover against a wall. The red demon was soon mugging for the crowd, pictures were flashing, and the government agents were still doing their best to keep the auction house sealed off. As the angel watched, the goddess smiled and several of the detectives stepped forward, and started making a fuss with the government agents, an obvious distraction. A ruse. One lone figure with long dark hair broke from the shadows and snuck into the burned out shell of the auction house.

The angel turned to his goddess, "Her, I presume?"

The goddess nodded proudly. "It has begun."

The angel nodded. Perhaps this would be entertaining. A large bowl of popcorn appeared in his hands, and he silently held it out to her. The star filled eyes never strayed from the scene below her as her hand grabbed some buttery kernels from the bowl.


	2. Into the Darkness

She'd be damned if these FBI morons were going to keep her and her men off this case. The Federal jerks couldn't find their way out of a paper bag much less catch a killer in NYC. They didn't know the streets the way her guys did, plus those empty suits were so stiff, they didn't know how to have any fun. When you work heavy crimes, you have to find ways to have some fun, or the weight of the job will kill you. Some of that fun was coming up right now. She waited until Daryl, Norm and Mike left cover and were putting themselves right up into the faces of the government suits, Daryl was hamming it up like an outraged brother from the hood, Norm and Mike providing his backup. They had their guns waving stupidly in the air and grabbing lots of attention.

Dawn giggled softly to herself as she watched their antics; they looked so stupid. If they had ever done anything as absurd as waving their guns around and shouting like this in a real situation, she'd have had them transferred out of her squad immediately, but this one was way off the charts, so they might as well have a good time with it. As soon as the coast was clear, she made a break for it into the now unguarded auction house, thru a large hole in the wall. The place stunk. It didn't just smell of fire, but also of dead flesh, and something even slightly more foul. As a sergeant in charge of a detective squad, Dawn had seen many things no woman, and most men should ever see, and all of those sights came with smells that were unpleasant at best. Even fresh bodies have an odor about them. This place smelled positively rank.

She stepped over charred fragments of furniture and made her way immediately to the security surveillance room, or what was left of it. An auction house this high-end would no doubt have cameras everywhere, and the main ones would definitely have to be on backup power sources, insurance would demand it. She'd find out one way or another, what the hell really happened in here tonight. One thing was for certain, Hellboy didn't show up for normal everyday murder investigations, and she wanted to know why the paranormals were here. Did they really think Hellboy was a federal secret? Idiots.

The monitoring room was a mess, many of the screens were blown out and heat from the fire had melted some of the components, but the DVR was still operational. She quickly hit a few buttons and rewound the system, watching the images flit by on the screen before her until she found something that looked like it might be normal footage. She scanned quickly through scenes, normal room traffic, normal bidding, a stuck up woman in a red dress, fast forward some more… Lights out. Aha. There it is. She rewound a bit, hit the play button and she watched as the camera barely caught the figure of a man in black carrying a box as he entered from the upper right corner of the screen. He was tall from the look of it, and blonde.

"What is he, an albino?" She could not see his face from the 45 degree angle of the camera, but the hair was long and almost white, the face very pale. He was talking, but she couldn't hear what he said, she quickly fiddled with some melted buttons and a raspy voice came from the speakers.

"…Nuada. Silverlance. Son of King Balor. And I am here, Sir, to reclaim what is rightfully mine."

His voice mesmerized her. His words told her a lot. Nuada? Why is that name familiar? What is rightfully his? A disturbance on the lower left showed shattering glass and 2 security guards flying into the room. A large hulking shadow suddenly appeared in the lower left corner of the screen, carrying a similar large black box. Dawn's large silver blue eyes blinked in surprise.

"What is THAT!" It roared, dropped the box and came further into the video frame. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. THAT was not human, nor was it any primate. If she didn't know better, she would have said it was a troll. As the huge figure came into better focus, reason deserted the sergeant, and her legs could no longer support her. She fell into the chair behind her with a hard thud, her mouth dropped open.

"It IS a fucking troll." Her mind was on such overload that she barely heard what the black clad figure was saying.

"Proud, Empty, Hollow THINGS that you are….." Dawn's mouth still hung open as she watched him release the tiny hungry looking little beasts.

She closed her mouth with a loud clack, shut off the playback, and searched frantically for a disc to copy to. Her hands shook, and she flung things left and right, one book went over her shoulder not really caring about leaving her DNA, it was unlikely to be processed correctly anyhow if the CIA or FBI had anything to do with it. Finding a disc, she shoved it in, and pressed the copy button. She had to get out of here quickly; if they found her they would take the disc from her. She started ranting to herself.

" A troll…. a flipping troll….! Well screw it, there's a big red demon outside, why the hell not a troll?" Her quick mind immediately started making the leap into territories most cops wouldn't jump to.

"_That means the killer wasn't a human at all, but what was he? What mythical creatures fit this description? Oh no… it couldn't be… Nuada? Is that what he said? The legend? An Elf? But… but… Elves were regal and honourable in all I've read. He can't be the prince. It couldn't be._"

The disc popped out, she snatched it and took off at a dead run through the burned out shell of the auction house, and out thru the hole in the wall. Never once did her mind refuse to accept that she saw an elf that had lived hundreds of years, it only refused to believe that he was dishonourable.

As she reached the detectives they greeted her with concern.

Daryl asked, "You get anything boss?"

She nodded and answered, "You won't believe me until you see it."

At that moment Hellboy and his team began getting back into their truck to leave.

Dawn's eyes widened and she gasped, "Oh no you don't! Daryl! – You're with me. The rest of you back to the house, and wait to hear from us."

She and Daryl jumped into the unmarked police car. She made him follow the motorcade discreetly. Daryl listened as she told the detective what was on the disc and what had really happened inside that building tonight as opposed to the 'gas explosion' the feds were trying to play it off as.

He turned to look at her when she was finished and said calmly, "You shittin' me, right?" When she shook her head no he continued, "So then why are we following them? This ain't no normal murder investigation, boss. Let them have it. Why we gotta get mixed up with a bunch of whack jobs?"

She didn't know how to put it into words. What could she say to make him understand? "Daryl, this isn't the end of it. This guy wasn't simply stealing things, or murdering people, he was making a statement. He brought a troll out into public view on purpose for Christ's sake! A TROLL! Hundreds of years of hiding in secrecy, humans don't even know they really exist and this guy blows that hard won cover right out of the water. We can't be left out of this or people will be dying everywhere. Not on my watch."

Her driver shook his head at her misplaced sense of honour.

"How do you even know about this stuff! Trolls, elves, and I KNOW you ain't talkin' Santa.' He glanced at her, " And you look so normal...you're a closet nerd, aren't you? I knew when I first met you Sarge, that you would be trouble... You know that we are going into New Jersey, right?" She nodded and he kept on driving.

He mumbled, "Crazy bitch, gonna get me killed."

It had been 20 minutes now and she was outside the gates of some hush hush mucky – muck government building, waiting for whomever –the -hell 'Manning' was to come out and speak to her. A portly man in a suit shuffled out of the building and started towards them.

Daryl commented, "Oh he's a ball of fire, this one."

Dawn chuckled. The man came up to the gate and tried to introduce himself but Dawn cut him off.

"Let me tell you who I am first. I am an NYPD detective sergeant who has," and she pulled the DVD disc out of her pocket, holding it high so he could clearly see it, "…. A very revealing copy of a DVD here from the auction house massacre tonight. Do you want to know what it has on it?"

Mr. Manning tried to talk but she raised her voice to just a hair below a shout and bowled right over him.

"What is HAS, is a video of a Moon Elf, yes I said elf, and a TROLL, and a thousand little beasties EATING the living flesh off approximately 70 very rich civilians; not to mention your very handsome red demon, a fish man and a fire chick. Now if you don't want the news media to know exactly where this little hideout of yours is, or to get a hold of this DVD, or the 5 other copies we have of it, you will let me in, and keep me in on this case. It's that simple."

Manning's eyes looked like they were seriously in danger of coming out of his head, he tried to sound confident as he spoke to her, but she could see he that was not at all. Daryl sat on the hood of the car with his arms crossed, smiling to himself. He knew you did not get in her way without coming out of it with some serious bruises.

Manning continued, "Miss…."

She yelled this time, "I'm a Sergeant!"

He stuttered but complied, "Okay, okay, Miss Sergeant, I am sure if you did such a thing… Alerting the media to our location… our agency would have your job."

She smiled sweetly and answered calmly, "Yes sir, that may be, but YOUR job would already be gone, and I'm fine with that."

Manning saw the resolute look on her face and he didn't doubt for a minute that she'd fall on the sword just to take him with her.

She continued, "So if you'll gracefully give in to a joint investigation we can be done with this. You keep your job, I keep mine. I want the bastard who basically just declared war on the human race, understand?"

Manning tried one more time to protest, but Daryl mumbled, "Here he goes, folding like a house of cards…."

Dawn held up the disc and wiggled it again and Manning caved in, "Well okay, the BPRD will say that we have invited NYPD to assist us in this operation, but we cannot have an entire squad in the instillation with us, we have very sensitive…... Sergeant?"

Dawn ignored the rest of whatever he was going to say, turned on her heel and got into the car to wait for them to open the gates.

Daryl got in beside her and said, "You don't have 5 copies of that DVD do you?" she shook her head no and he chuckled, "What a mess."

They drove into the compound grounds, and were escorted to a room where a man in what looked like an underwater suit was interrogating a small blue/green fairy. She gazed at it and was awed with how lovely and frail the dead little being was, and then it opened its mouth with all those vicious teeth. Appearances were always deceiving. She sighed. Manning tried to make brief introductions, but the inclusion of someone from outside of the BPRD was not something the team liked very much.

Hellboy turned to her, "Hey lady, no offense, but you're human, you're…you know…frail. I don't mean to be rude, but you are useless on this case."

Dawn snapped her head in his direction, "You're kidding right? 15 minutes on scene and I have more information than any of you did, plus your friend here is literally a fish out of water, how bad off can I be?" she turned quickly to Abe and said softly, "No offense intended."

Abe nodded, "Oh! Of course, none taken."

Manning leaned in to Hellboy and said, "Red, she's in, we have no choice, and she did say you were handsome."

Hellboy blinked, "She did? Well in that case, welcome lady and you can call me Red. This is Abe and this is Liz."

Dawn smiled, said it was nice to meet them, introduced Daryl and that they could call her Dawn, to this Manning said "But you…you said I had to call you sergeant."

She looked him in the face and said, "That's because I don't like you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The team was off and running. The information gained led them to the Troll Market beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, Dawn and Daryl entered with the Hellboy team, both wearing hooded cloaks to disguise themselves, but she was starting to worry about her detective. He was beginning to look a tad too pale for a bald-headed black man. He said he was fine, but all the strange shit walking around them was making him a bit nervous.

"We ain't in Kansas anymore…." he muttered.

The team spread out searching for clues, Abe spotted the veiled female elf rushing through the market and into a nearby store. She closed the windows behind her, and Abe knew he had to follow her, Dawn knew she had to follow Abe. Mr. Wink was currently in pursuit of the escaped Princess, but when he came into the courtyard of the market he saw the princess enter the store and then he saw other people follow her in. One of the cloaked figures stopped in the doorway, turned and looked right in his direction just as he slipped backwards into the shadows. The bright silver blue eyes searched the gloom where he hid, and he knew her for what she was. A human! Chasing the Princess no longer seemed like a viable option. Wink was very smart as far as trolls go, and he knew they would find the Princess eventually, but a human in the troll market was something the prince needed to know about. Wink backed up quietly and retreated to find his master while the human closed the door to the shop behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The Goddess's eyebrows raised and Azryel tilted his head, the many eyes blinking on his wings. Mr. Wink's death had originally come to pass tonight in this market place, but now it was averted, simply because the troll had spied the human. Both deities mumbled apologies as their hands collided on their way into the half empty popcorn bowl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Princess confronted Abe with why they were following her, and demanded that he give her his hand. The strangely lovely eyes widened when she realized that the fish man was indeed telling her the truth about his name and that her brother, whoever that was had not sent them. The two cloaked figures stepped forward and removed their hoods, making the princess gasp in surprise.

"But you are human. No true humans have been in the Troll Market for centuries. My brother will kill you if he finds you here."

During these words, Hellboy, Liz and Johann entered the store. Dawn smiled at her, "We can protect ourselves if we must. Who is your brother? Does he look like you? Because I saw someone very much like you kill many people today, and I'd like to find him."

The blonde beauty nodded, "I am Princess Nuala, and he is my twin brother, Nuada. He has broken the truce with your world, and tonight he killed my father, King Balor. You are wrong. You cannot defend yourselves against him. Allow me to show you."

Nuala moved to the back of the store where a water fountain flowed. As the team watched, she gracefully lifted her hand, closed her eyes and extended power out from herself into the falling water of the fountain. The surface of the water rippled and flowed into recognizable lines, as a picture formed on the surface of the water. From her own memories the princess showed the entire team what had happened earlier tonight in the council chambers, Prince Nuada with his back to the princess, his sword to the court Chamberlain's neck. Nuala asked him to give up his sword and he said, for her, anything. When Dawn first saw his face it was like getting punched in the belly as the goddess' magic took hold. She gave a small gasp and stepped backwards. Unbidden the thought came into her mind, _"No! Don't give up the sword, it's a set up."_ Her heart raced, what was going on? She couldn't take her eyes off his face. This was the man she had seen in the auction house, this is who she hunted.

She watched as he kneeled before his father, "Ahatair."

The King demanded something of the Prince in a language she could not comprehend, why had he stolen the crown piece? and the Prince looked so sad as he answered, "To set us free. All of us father."

Dawn's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "But… _This is not a crazed killer…"_

As she tried to follow the conversation between father and son, Dawn's heart suddenly ached for the pale elven prince; she understood him and why he had done it. He was only trying to save his people, he just doesn't understand. When she saw the king hide his face in sorrow, she knew in her soul without benefit of a translation that he had just condemned his own son to death, and unbelievably, the prince's own sister Nuala agreed to it.

Her mind screamed, _"Oh no…no. He's your son! How could you do that? Someone help him...He's so alone…"_ Dawn's breathing quickened as she watched, _"Oh please keep him safe."_

The fight was mesmerizing. Dawn silently rooted for the pale prince the entire time, marvelling at his ability. She studied martial arts her whole life, she had grown up in a dojo, and she could easily see that no human could ever match him. She listened to his breathing, less effort to block, exhale & tensed abdominals as he put force into the blade to strike, she heard his gasp when he took a fist to the face, and she cringed. He killed yet another guard. When it was over, she could see a small trail of blood trickling from his nose. The prince gave a small shuddering breath. Nuala suddenly had the same bloody nose as her brother, her vision looked down and saw her own hand slick with blood. Briefly, Dawn's eyes narrowed at this information. '_The twins share the same hurts. How odd'... _ Then Nuada finally came to only 2 guards left protecting his father the king, and Dawn pleaded silently, _"No, please don't do it prince. You will never forgive yourself."_ But the prince was too far gone, and he took his father's life. The image on the water disappeared as Nuala allowed it to fade, and the rest of the team started talking loudly amongst themselves. Only Abe spoke softly to the princess. Dawn stepped quietly backwards and listened, thinking things through more thoroughly, her eyes cold and hard, watching carefully.

The princess told of the indestructible Golden Army, and the 3rd crown piece, the only thing that stopped Nuada from gaining control of the legendary Army. Nuala told of Nuada's plans to destroy the human race, to drive them back so that the fey creatures could rise to supremacy once again. The Princess was very brave and must be hurting and afraid considering all that had happened to her, as well as the loss of her father. Dawn listened as they made plans to take the princess with them, and to keep the crown piece away from her brother. None of it sat right with her, she couldn't put her finger on it. She had come here wanting his blood, but all Dawn could think of now was that she must find him and help him somehow. Come what may, she knew that if she didn't, the prince would die. The thought of him dead made her soul cry. Her stomach actually quivered with the intensity of the feeling.

The decision was made quickly and everyone turned to leave the little shop, but the dark haired sergeant stepped forward.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned to look at her, Johann stated clearly that they must leave quickly, but Dawn would not budge.

"If you all don't mind, I would like just a moment with the Princess, girl to girl. Princess, do you mind?"

Nuala took stock of the human's clear cool eyes and said easily, "Why no, it will be fine. Please give us a moment."

After everyone left, Nuala smiled at her and said, "I wondered how a normal human came to be in their midst, but your spirit is very strong. What do you wish to speak to me about?"

Dawn studied her face, Nuala truly was beautiful in an alien and delicate sort of way. She decided to be blunt, since time was short.

"Nuada was in exile for many years, wasn't he? Several centuries if my memory of the tale serves me correctly." Nuala nodded and Dawn continued, "How often did you go to visit your brother?"

Nuala blinked in surprise at her question. "I don't understand…what has this to do…?"

Dawn continued, "You asked him to give up his sword tonight. It was a set up. Did you know it might come to this? You were willing to allow your brother to die to be rid of him instead of finding another way. Did he shame you that much Princess? If you loved your twin, I would think you would have visited him at least a few times in a thousand or so years, perhaps gotten him to see reason and come home, but you didn't. Why? You were safe in your position as the perfect Princess with your gowns and with your people, and he was alone. Anyone, any being, fey or human, alone and in pain for that long a time will fall into madness, but you never tried to stop his descent. So I have to ask why?"

Nuala gasped as a small tear escaped her eye and trailed down her cheek. She said, "You don't like me, you think I am rotten. You don't understand, Nuada is bent upon destruction of your kind, and he loved me...too much."

Dawn watched her and some pieces fell into place. So Nuada was in love with his sister. HHmm. Incest was common among elves. She knew that. Such long lived beings had different ideas than humans did of what was acceptable in love relationships. But the problem here was that the feeling was not mutual.

The human said, "So, it was uncomfortable for you. I understand more now. Still, you took the easy way out. Uncomfortable or not, you should have helped him. It would have been the honourable thing to do."

Nuala gasped, "What do you know of honour? My brother is trying to kill your people."

Dawn shook her head no, "He is trying to save his own. You know I am right. Nuada is not blameless, but your father wronged him, and so did you. I know enough to know that someone must help him, and I will do it."

Nuala studied the girl before her. She had to stand about 5'9" in flats. Her colouring was not common. She had long, dark, incredible hair, an olive complexion, a tiny nose, high cheek bones and pretty lips, the eyes were the most telling. Light coloured blue or silver grey, they were both yet neither, and they showed strength. Nuala could see she was determined.

"You are right. I should have tried to help Nuada, but you will not be able to help him, he will kill you on sight. He is mad. You will not be able to stop him from awakening the Golden Army."

Dawn nodded, "That is what you would see. It's what you have seen for hundreds of years. Nuada is not mad except perhaps with grief and betrayal. I think he killed your father because he felt he had no other choices left. I think Nuada will be haunted by it for the rest of his life. Has it occurred to you that maybe your father was wrong about the Golden Army? About a great many things in fact? I think your father saw it, just before he died. Now I need you to tell me how to find your brother."

Nuala shook her head, "What do you mean about my father?"

Dawn sighed realizing she had been hard on the princess. Sometimes it was hard NOT to be a cop, "You are very brave and good to try to save us and honour the truce between our worlds. I do not mean to sound as if I am judging you, but just as you are not perfect, Nuada is not evil and this whole mess is not entirely his fault. Perhaps something I saw will give you some peace. Look again at your own memories of tonight's tragedy. Do not watch your brother, but from the corner of your eyes, you can see your father. Watch him and only him. He is full of despair at ordering Nuada's death. He could not even bare to watch. Halfway through the fight with the guards, he lifts his head, surprised and pleased that Nuada still lives. At the end, watch your father's face as he stands before his son; before Nuada attacks and kills him. Your father was a great warrior wasn't he? He taught Nuada, he trained him. Yet King Balor did not even try to defend himself. Think about it, what does that tell you? Now please tell me how to find him."

Nuala said "Wait! Please! Just for a moment." Nuala closed her eyes, and searched her memories, looking for the things that the girl had told her of. Suddenly her eyes popped opened, surprise on her face, "But he!" The detective's observations were true.

Dawn smiled and answered her, "Yes he did; your father smiled. He was happy that Nuada prevailed and had not died. Your father _allowed_ his life to be taken. He died proud of his son. What does that mean? Maybe if you think on it, it will help you; maybe it will give you some comfort."

Nuala approached her, and said, "Please, hold up your hand. I cannot send you to find him if it means your certain death. I must be sure."

Dawn held up her hand as Nuala placed her palm against it. Dawn felt a soft breeze drift over her mind, as Nuala's mind made contact with her own. As Nuala searched her memories, Dawn swiftly relived them with her, her rise in the department, her loves and losses, her beliefs. Nuala searched for anything that would give Nuada a reason to kill the girl, greed, selfishness, vanity, cruelty... and found none.

When she lowered her hand Nuala smiled at her, "You are of a different sort, Dawn. You may have a chance to stay alive. If you are willing to risk your life, then I must help you. Take this." She removed the golden bracelet from her wrist. It had the family crest, the tree of life engraved upon it, and it was gorgeous.

Dawn shook her head, "No thank you, I can't. Just tell me how to find him."

Nuala smiled, "Consider it on loan. It will keep you safe from other fey; it will prove that you are protected by me. When you find him, show it to him and tell him that I gave it to you to keep you safe. You see, he made it for me himself. I have never been parted from it."

Dawn studied the bracelet and it was truly breathtaking, Nuada was a master craftsman. Nuala went on, "Tell him that you have given me peace over father's death, and that if he will keep you with him, and safe for me, I will meet him on Samhain night, and give him the 3rd crown piece when you personally return this bracelet to me. That should keep you alive at the very least."

Dawn studied the golden eyes, her tummy quivering in nervousness. Nuala smiled again, "Be sure to tell him that he will not be able to find me. I will drink a sleeping potion each week, and have them move me by airship over great distances to a new location. If I do not know where I am, then he cannot know it through our mind connection. It will buy you almost 5 weeks of time. Will you please tell Nuada what you have told me about our father?"

Dawn nodded, "When he is ready to hear it. Will you really give him the crown piece if I am alive at the end of the 5 weeks?"

Nuala nodded in response, "If I give him my word, then I will have to. It will be up to you to convince him out of awakening the army."

Dawn listened as she was told the directions of how to find Nuada. Nuala was very specific about the train stations, and which turns to take, and to close her eyes and to use her hand against the wall, or she would never find the lair's entrance because he had it covered by glamour magic and it would fool her eyes. Dawn turned to walk away, but paused for just a moment. She felt she had to be honest with Nuala, since the Princess had been honest with her.

"Remember I said your father was wrong about the Army? Do you know what I meant?"

Nuala answered, "I assumed you meant he should never have had the army created."

Dawn shook her head, "No, I think he got that part right. It is the only thing that saved your people. What he did wrong was putting it to sleep." Nuala's expression was shocked to say the least. Dawn chuckled.

Nuala and Dawn left the shop to join the others, when no one was looking, Dawn slipped away and headed toward the first stone archway carved to the left, and disappeared into the darkness.

Later on, when Daryl and the others noticed she was gone Nuala said simply, "She is with my brother."

Daryl looked as if his bald head would pop off his body, "What do you mean she's with your brother! You mean the blonde guy that looks like you? The man that went through an entire room full of armed guards like a Cuisinart and you're telling me she went to find him!"

Nuala smiled, "Yes."

A train rumbled by on the tracks to Dawn's left, making her whole body shiver. Being so close to the moving metal monstrosities made her very uneasy, it just wasn't natural. She must be out of her mind for doing this. She waited patiently until it passed then turned her eyes again away from the tunnel wall, continuing her progress, steadily pressing her hand into the side of the stone structure. _'Oh yuck. This is so gross.' _Nuala had warned her that her eyes would be deceived by her brother's magic, so she should close them, but the ledge was too slender for her to risk falling onto the train tracks; however, Dawn thought averting her eyes away from the wall should work just as well.

Several more paces and her right hand found a rounded corner. With a quick intake of breath, she pushed her hand further into the empty space. When her eyes examined the tunnel wall, she could not see any doorway or a hole, but her hand definitely had found one. Leaning back slightly Dawn studied the façade and only after really looking at it hard for several seconds was she able to start picking out the flaws in the magical design. This was truly amazing. Shiny dark chocolate hair swung as she tilted her head to the left, her ears catching the sounds of breathing, hard exertion. There was definitely someone inside, beyond this imaginary doorway. Her belly turned to liquid in pure fear; her hand went to her gun like second nature. Slowly, stepping as softly as she could, without making a sound, she pressed through the magical barrier. Soft light flooded her eyes, a hearth, and a large bare floor space were the first things that her sight registered. The second thing somersaulted right into her range of vision, touched down, and in the blink of an eye back flipped into a crouch. Her heart almost stopped.

The silver blade flashed out, he spun into another thrust, his voice making soft sounds with his movements. She watched the whirling elf, his hair wild in flight. His body was so limber and strong, his mind focused. Dawn had eyes like a hawk, a fact she had always been proud of, but Nuada moved so quickly she could barely keep track of him. She gasped out of sheer anxiety, barely able to control her breathing. _"C'mon girl, hold it together. Don't wuss out now."_

Nuada had been impressive in Nuala's memories, but in person he literally overwhelmed her. She could tell he was tall, and his skin and hair wasn't simply pale, he practically glowed from within. His body was fluid and very well muscled, and it left her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She realized that he could kill her without the slightest effort, and the gun was now more of a liability then anything. If he saw an armed human, he would kill her before she had a chance to even speak. Quietly she took off her gun belt and laid it in a dark corner, out of sight.

Her instincts from long years of martial arts training, and warrior's codes of honour told her to put herself in an obviously vulnerable position, a position no warrior would feel even remotely threatened by, so that when he did notice her he would be less likely to attack unprovoked. She dropped her cloak on the ground so that he would know she concealed no weapons, leaving her in her black silk turtleneck and pants, and then she kneeled on the floor, tucking her heels underneath her, and placing her palms flat on the ground before her. Nuada still trained, not even noticing her. She wondered how that was even possible given his long years of battle experience. She never thought she would be able to get this close.

The blade of the spear made whooshing sounds as it cut the air, on his slow movements, she could hear the elven silver actually sing. The high pitched hum was beautiful. If she ever had any doubts on the subject as she watched him, they were quickly dispelled, for this was clearly a magical being that had lived through centuries. Nuada made one more overhead circle and a reverse thrust before coming to a stop. His breathing was only slightly heavy from his exercise while her heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it. She kept her face turned down towards the floor, her hair hiding her face and blocking her eyes from making contact as she said softly, "Prince Nuada? Please… I come as an ally, to offer my help, with word from your sister, Princess Nuala."

She shivered as she waited. Nuada's head snapped in her direction, the soft voice finally alerting him to her presence.

He took in the prostrate form, and wondered how long she had been there; his sharp eyes saw her body tremble, "Nuala? Where is my sister? And how long have you been there?"

She could feel his eyes upon her, but she did not raise her head as she answered, "Not long, only a few moments. Your sister has gone; she gave me directions to find you, and said she would meet you on Samhain night. There is more, highness, I beg your patience."

Nuada stepped forward now, studying the girl. There was something not right about her, he started to ask where Nuala had gone with the crown piece but a low rumbling growl made the Prince turn towards the large archways as Wink lumbered into the chamber. "Wink! Where is she?"

Dawn's eyes stayed glued to the floor, peripheral vision caught the split hooves of the troll as he walked into the room and she almost bolted from the chamber in fright. She had to fight to keep her breathing steady and she didn't move a muscle. Nuada listened as his old friend told him that he had found the princess in the market, when a group of strangers followed her into the binder's shop, however amongst them there was at least one human.

Dawn listened as the troll made grunting speech, and she had no idea what he was saying until Nuada exclaimed loudly, "A Human! In the troll market? Impossible Mr. Wink." Dawn thought, _'Oh shit, I'm done for." _

Wink stated very clearly, "Not impossible Prince, there she is." His mechanical arm pointed at the kneeling girl.

Suddenly a metallic sliding sound echoed thru the chamber. She had heard that sound at least twice now and she was never going to forget it. The point of Nuada's spear appeared in a flash, mere centimetres away from her nose, and she gasped, but refused to move a muscle.

His voice washed over her, "Raise your head and look at me. Look at me!"

Slowly, the girl raised her face and the light blue eyes looked directly into his. Nuada's mind had trouble wrapping around it for a moment, but it really was a filthy human. How did she get this close without him sensing her? The point of the spear twisted and pressed up against her chin.

"How did you find me? And where have you taken my sister?"

She lifted her chin just enough that she was able to speak, "Prince, I told you, your sister gave me directions, and she also gave me this."

She carefully lifted her hands and pulled down the sleeve of her shirt to show the golden bracelet with the tree of life secured around her right wrist. The spear dropped from pale fingers, clattered to the floor and before she knew it, Nuada had crossed the distance between them. His right hand clutched her throat. She was lifted off the floor and slammed roughly into the nearby wall, the stone connecting with her skull hard enough to make her vision swim, her toes barely touching the ground.

Nuada growled into her face, "You lie! You stole that bracelet; my sister would never give it to you. Tell me why I should not rip your throat out, _human._" He said the word human with such hatred it made her blood cold.

She could feel a small trickle of warmth work its way down the back of her neck and she knew she was bleeding. She struggled for breath, "I swear it, she did. If you kill me you will not hear why I came."

Nuada studied her, "A human's word is worthless. Give me cause to believe you."

Dawn's fingers tightened around his wrist to lessen the pressure on her neck as she answered, "Nuala told me it would keep me safe from fey who would do me harm. She said it would show I was under her protection. She told me you made it for her, and she has never been parted from it."

Nuada's breath fanned her face, as she opened her eyes to try to see him. His left hand had her right wrist pinned to the wall, the other did not loosen its grip around her throat, but his head tilted to the right as if considering her words, so she continued, "Why would I steal it and then come to you with it? If I stole it, I would run away."

Nuada responded swiftly, "I would hunt you down and kill you."

Dawn dragged in 2 shuddering breaths and finally started to get angry. If he was going to kill her, she wouldn't go quietly.

"Well it was much more efficient this way, Prince. Why run away when I could come to you directly and let you kill me. This saves us both a lot of trouble. "

His hand tightened on her throat, his head cocked now to the left, and she immediately regretted her hasty words.

She nodded, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please Prince; I came because I want to help you. She read my thoughts, you could too. I have nothing to hide from you."

Nuada suddenly released her and stepped back, with a look of absolute horror on his face. Breathing heavily, she braced herself against the wall, and she realized that the idea of him reading her thoughts was an anathema to him. He would rather roll in pig shit.

Nuada sneered, "I will not. Human's minds are cesspools. You are a human, and female, what possible help could you be?"

Blue eyes glared at him, "If you treat all your allies like this it's no wonder you don't have any."

She watched as Nuada's eyes turned from deep golden back to that orange/amber colour; she had angered him again and before he decided to kill her she tried one more time, "My mind is not a cesspool. Your sister survived reading my thoughts; and I'd like you to know, she only threw up once."

The look of pure disgust that washed over his face would have been comical if she wasn't in so much pain right now. Her throat burned like fire and her head was already developing a nice sized lump. She held up her hand in surrender, "Please, I'm just joking. She didn't throw up; she smiled at me and said I might actually be able to stay alive."

Nuada turned his back on her and started to walk away, his sensual, raspy voice floated to her, "Leave the bracelet, and do not come back. If I see you again, you will die sooner rather than later."

No… he couldn't make her leave now. She was so close! She had to make him see…a sudden thought occurred to her, and she decided to use it.

"You're afraid, aren't you?"

Nuada snapped back around to look at her, and her courage almost deserted her in that moment but she refused to give in.

"That's it, right? You're afraid. Is it that you might find out that a human really CAN help you, or are you afraid of my mind?"

With a growl, Nuada was suddenly pressing her back into the wall, his knee was between her legs, his hip pressing hers back into the rock. His hand had her jaw this time instead of her throat at least, but the back of her skull pressed into the stone and started to bleed again. _"Geez, that hurts." _Blue eyes clashed with amber, unafraid, a gauging of wills.

Nuada spoke first, "You will regret this, _human._"

Her eyes never wavered as she answered, "I will not."

Nuada's hand left hand grabbed her right, the fingers lacing between hers none too gently so that she could not pull her hand away even if she tried. His eyes searched hers for some weakness, "I will not be as gentle with you as my sister. I will rape you of your thoughts."

Dawn's eyes glittered in challenge as she curled her fingers around his, "It is not rape if the contact is invited."


	3. Beyond Pale

His eyes bored into hers, with their hands tightly clasped. Nuada steeled himself, and then pushed his mind into hers much harder than was necessary. He expected to be overwhelmed by the roiling confusion and primitive nature of the human mind. He expected it to be dark, and rotten and obsessed with petty victories. She had been right of course. Nuada was afraid, he was afraid he would be damaged by contact with a human's mind.

The prince could not count how many years it had been since the last time he had sought contact with another fey, mind to mind, besides his sister. It seemed as if the cost had always become too great for him, so he shunned the most intimate connection, and he certainly would not willingly share such personal contact with humans. The last time he had entered a human mind was centuries ago in an attempt to retrieve battle information, and Nuada had been traumatized by the experience. He had felt soiled and sickened for days afterwards. But the human girl had forced him into this by goading him, his pride would not allow him to back down, and if he wanted to know the truth of her words then he had no choice.

He had prepared himself for the worst. He expected greed, and self-importance, conceit with no trace of humility, but he found none of those things. Her mind was a surprisingly 'clean' place, even if peculiar. For the most part, although he sensed a true warrior's spirit in her, (odd in a female of most any race) he felt as if she was generally soft, and tranquil, calmly accepting. There was a fair amount of pride, but it was in the things she had worked hard to achieve, not fed by some misplaced belief that it was her birthright as a human. There were some deep, dark places to be sure, but they were small, and he avoided them easily. Nuada could also tell that given the right circumstances, she was capable of being coldly merciless. It surprised him given her otherwise calm nature. Nuada felt no intent to deceive him, nor any desire to hurt either him, nor any fey. Strangest of all, he felt no desire from her at all to save the human race. She seemed to be divorced from any loyalty to any specific race, color or creed, and even less to the entire race as a whole. It made no sense to him, and it made him angry. He demanded her name.

Dawn gasped as she felt Nuada's mind invade her own. If Nuala's touch was a soft breeze, then her brother's was a great rushing wave. His raw power felt as if it lifted her psyche up and crashed it against the shore. It hurt. He made it painful on purpose and she knew it. Perhaps she deserved it. So she did the only thing she could think of, she breathed deeply and relaxed into it. As with most pain, if you fight it, it only gets worse, and this seemed to be no different. Soon the bright silver pain lessened, but the feeling of being completely surrounded by power and strength did not. She felt trapped; pinned down. She could no longer feel his body pressed into hers, in fact, she could no longer feel her own body at all. She became aware of him probing into her emotions; searching. Ever the observer, Dawn paid attention to the texture of his mind as she allowed him access. He did not feel dark and evil at all to her, instead he felt angry and barely leashed. She had no way of reading his thoughts as he was able to read hers, but that part of him that entered her, she could feel.

In the darkness, she heard his voice whispering into her mind, "What is your name?" she heard her soul respond, "Dawn."

Dawn heard the whisper again, knowing she could not lie to him it was impossible even if she had tried, he asked, "How did you find me?"

And she answered again, "Nuala told me how." The wave of power built again and he demanded, "Show me."

Suddenly Dawn was reliving the conversation she had with Nuala, "Please, hold up your hand. I cannot send you to find him if it means your certain death. I must be sure."

…..and Nuada witnessed it. It was exactly as the human had said. Nuala had promised if he kept the human with him and safe, she would deliver the crown piece to him in almost 5 weeks time. Why would she want him to keep this stupid human with him? To what end?

But there was something more he needed to know, "What did you tell Nuala that gave her peace about our father? What did she mean?"

There was a pause, and then suddenly Nuada found himself facing a brick wall. His eyebrows drew down in confusion, where was the memory about his father? What had given his sister peace? Slowly the elf realized that he was seeing a brick wall because the human had consciously blocked him from viewing the memory. How did she even have a clue as to how to accomplish such a feat? A human blocked him! He was outraged.

Dawn concentrated as hard as she could on the wall. She memorized it, the color of each brick, the lines of the mortar. It took every ounce of will in her body. She could not lie to him, but she did not have to let him see everything. She did her best to ignore the sensual voice that wanted to see this memory. His request became more and more insistent, causing her great pain. Finally her mind pleaded with him, "Please prince, I cannot show you. I swear I will when you are ready."

That she was trying to protect him did not register with Nuada. It would not have mattered to him, he cared not for her, or for her thoughts, he wanted only answers. Anger and sheer determination drove him onward.

He asked her questions that made no sense, - where she lived, did she like shopping malls? What! No… she hated them. She suspected that he was looking for any excuse to kill her.

Then finally something that made sense, he wanted to know how she came to know Nuala, and the answer she gave him seemed to amuse the elf, "By chance. I was hunting you for killing the people in the auction house."

Nuada smiled to himself, she had nerve. The human….. was hunting him… if it wasn't so amusing it would be disturbing. However, she had gotten very close to him in a very short amount of time. Then he asked the most important questions of all, "You told me you come as an ally, not as a hunter. Was that a lie?"

She answered without delay, "No. I want to help you now."

Nuada asked, "Why do you want to help me? I will kill your kind."

She answered him honestly, "If you continue like this you will die. I don't want you to die."

Nuada became angry, "You just want to stop me from killing your race."

Her mind answered again, "No. I want you to live."

The elf stated bitterly, "Humans cannot be loyal."

Her answer stunned him as well as herself, "I can be, if you will let me. It is beneath me to betray you."

Nuada did not know what to do with that answer. Her soul told him far more than the spoken words, he felt not a sliver of a hesitation. This human who did not know him truly believed she would be loyal to him, it made no sense, there must be something more. Pressing onward into her very memories, he forced her to relive one after another until a strong metal hand on his arm grabbed his attention, pulling himself out of her mind, he realized it was Wink. Nuada was irritated until Wink pointed out the blood trickling from the female's nose.

The troll stated clearly, "Sire, you are killing her. She came to you to offer herself as an ally. To discard her or to keep her is your choice, but human or not, this is dishonorable."

Nuada nodded reluctantly, and caught the girl before her body hit the floor, scooping her up easily into his arms. "I know Wink, but I do not trust her. I can not."

Wink blinked at his master, "You read her thoughts, does she have deception in her heart?"

Nuada shook his head, "None that I could see. She believes she would die for me if necessary."

Wink shrugged and turned to take his leave, "Then believe that she would, sire."

Nuada said softly, "Humans are changeable, my friend."

Wink mumbled as he walked away, "If she changes, we will kill her."

Nuada stood there for several moments trying to decide what to do with the human. He considered propping her against the wall, but it was still raining and the floor was wet. She would be soaked and probably half dead by morning. If nothing else, he needed her alive in order to get the crown piece from Nuala. The only soft and dry place in his sanctuary was his sleeping chamber and his own bed. The thought of a filthy human in his bed made his stomach queasy. Still, if he were honest with himself, she did not smell bad. She did not reek of fake manufactured perfumes. Her skin did not leak toxins from smoking or drugs and alcohol. She had only the faintest scent. He realized belatedly that she smelled like the fall harvest, and a hint of spices that he knew many years ago. What human smells like this? Resolutely he climbed the stairs into the sheltered loft of his bedroom with his burden.

He placed her on the bed and called for some fairies to fetch a cloth to clean away the blood from her nose, when a patch of bright crimson on his bicep caught his attention. He knew it was not his own, so he turned the female over, seeing the ugly damage to the back of her skull. He knew that had happened when he slammed her into the wall, and she had not given him a sign of it. He pursed his lips, eyebrows drawn in concentration. He had much to think about.

A moment later the fairies he summoned reappeared, but so did 2 bogarts and a veritable host of other small fey as well. The news of a human in the prince's lair spread quickly, and they all wanted to see the oddity, for certainly it must be worth viewing if the prince was there and the human still lived. Nuada said nothing as he watched the small fey clean her wounds. He put on a black silk shirt, removed his training shoes and then arranged himself on the bed in a cross legged position facing the human.

The memory of her eyes flashing in challenge at him, refusing to be cowed, made his own eyes deepen to amber once again. This human had been in his presence for the smallest amount of time, but she had figured out almost immediately how to get under his skin. Then he recalled that she had also reasoned out how to effectively block his mind from viewing the memories that she did not want him to see. The sheer will power it would have to have taken amazed him. Why would this human want to be of service to him, and more importantly, what could she possibly offer? Once he had the crown piece he would need assistance from no one. The questions only multiplied but they would have to wait until she woke up. Nuada draped his forearms over his knees, drew a deep breath and dropped seamlessly into meditation.

She opened one eye to find one black clad knee only a short distance away from her face. Further inspection proved that the knee wasn't alone at all; it actually had a twin, and a pale, handsome elf was attached to them both. The second silver eye opened to join the first as Dawn slowly took in the man sitting on the bed beside her. His legs were crossed, arms resting upon them. The black shirt he wore was open at the neck, providing a tantalizing glimpse of the muscular chest encased within. His eyes were closed, his face seemingly at peace, the pale hair no longer wild looking, but combed and smooth. He had the longest, darkest eyelashes, clearly visible now as they lay against the white of his cheeks. Her head ached phenomenally. She would deal with the throbbing, rather than move and risk disturbing him. She knew once those eyes opened, the peaceful façade would be gone, and she would be in the crosshairs again.

Dawn knew he was not sleeping, but this was the first time she had a chance to really look at him. His features were so striking, harsh yet hauntingly lovely. The curved marking that ran across both cheeks and the bridge of his nose would have looked dreadful on someone else, but it seemed to suit Nuada. The two toned long golden hair looked soft and silky. In the dim lighting the dark color of his eyes and lips could almost be put off to an effect of the lighting and shadows. His lips were curvy and finely made. She smiled to herself, "God sure put a lot of effort into this one." She would stay in this one spot for the rest of the day no matter how much her head hurt if it meant that he would be at peace.

She remembered the hurt and betrayed look on his face in the council chamber from the night before, when his own father had ordered his death. That look was something that she never wished to see again. Her eyebrows drew down as she considered how bizarre it was that this male's feelings mattered to her at all.

"How long have you been awake, human?" The words were asked softly, the prince's eyes remained closed as Nuada slowly brought himself up out of meditation.

The fact that she had been able to observe him unnoticed yet again, for the second time in as many days, irritated the elven prince to no end.

"Not long. Only a few minutes. I did not want to disturb you." She answered.

Nuada's eyes opened slowly to gaze down at her. They were a very pale gold, like yellow ice. His meditation had relaxed him, but it had not given him any answers.

"Your very presence disturbs me." He said it softly as his eyes traveled over her from head to toe.

"Good morning to you too, Prince. It's nice to see you are so well rested." Her face smiled softly, but her eyes glittered with sarcasm.

Pale yellow eyes cut back to hers, "It is not morning, you have slept for 12 hours, human."

Her eyebrows drew together in consternation, "Who's fault is that? My name is Dawn."

His lips curved up slightly, "I do not like the name."

_Hmph. He is so arrogant!_ It made her want to scream. "Well its fortunate then that your opinion didn't matter when my parents named me."

Sharp yellow eyes could see her ire, and it amused him. Obviously he could get under her skin as well. "Yes, I am sure the name I would have picked for you would have been less than complimentary. Tell me why you are here. What do you think you have to offer…..human?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. The pale gold and silver blue eyes locked in challenge. She gave in first, "How about your life? How about saving the lives of your people?"

Nuada scoffed, "How would a stupid human help save my people? Once I have awakened the Golden Army no one will stop me. Where is your worth other then gaining me the final crown piece so I can finally kill you?"

Dawn sat up and gripped her head. It would be easier to think if her head didn't pound so. "Oh really, prince? So, educate this stupid human. Let's say you _have_ the army, now; today. What's your first move? Do you engage in guerrilla warfare? Take out small pockets of humans at a time? That'll take forever. Do you just start to march and mow down whatever happens to get in your way? Perhaps you openly declare war on the whole human race? Your warrior's honor basically demands that doesn't it? What is your plan, _prince_?"

Blonde eyebrows creased, what was this human babbling about? "Do you actual wish to speak battle strategies with me? I have fought more battles….. more wars then you have even read about, how do you propose to question _me_?"

She smiled at his reaction, "Humor the stupid human. Tell me. Because you haven't fought any full scale battles in hundreds of years, and I'd say you're rusty." His eyes began to deepen to golden as they faced off against each other on the bed. She continued, "If nothing else, I can help you by making you think. So tell me, what's your first move?"

Nuada surprised himself by answering her, "I would gather the army and declare open war on the human race. I would begin the campaign in the Scottish Highlands where our forefathers gave us our birthright."

Dawn placed her hand on her head as it began to seriously pound, "Well congratulations. Seriously. Prince Nuada has now managed to single handedly do what NO man has EVER been able to do in the entire history of all human kind. And that's about 5 thousand years of history, so I'm impressed. You have managed to unilaterally stop humans from beating each other up, and you've united all of the world's nations against one common enemy…YOU."


	4. Onward

**To Those Who Wait...**

It is my pleasure to announce that this work has been fully edited and published under a new name as an ebook.

If you read the book here and liked it I would appreciate a kind review.

Rereading is possible without purchase, feel free to contact me privately.

Thanks for all the support, I could not have gotten so far without your words of encouragement,

Your Servant,

Gwen


	5. Anonymous Guest Reviewer My Favorite!

Just In... this from a ANONYMOUS reviewer, a GUEST...

Gotta love those. The ones who don't have the balls to put their name to their foul mouths and risk having an answer directed at them. Luckily for me, that doesn't stop me. Cause I don't care. :D

she wrote, and I quote:

"Shame on you, I genuinely enjoyed your story but after reading what

garbage you put up on the 4th chapter I have no interest in the ending.

Whatever happened to writing for the enjoyment of it? You felt you put so much

effort into this story that people would pay for it? It's a unfortunate that

someone with so much talent lacks the most common decency of copyrighted laws

and respect for fan fiction readers. "

O.o ?

Really.

I so love it when idiots get their panties in a bunch.

Here's some education for you:

Well I did write it for the enjoyment of it, but after months of writing, I also DID put a ton of effort into this story, and then a ton MORE to change it so as not to infringe on copyrights when it went to publishing (moron). I published it because so many of my readers encouraged me to (unlike the sourpusses of this world like you), and this portion of the story was left up simply so that people who keep coming back to it again and again would know why it has been removed. People have messaged me privately saying they loved the story but were unable to purchase it, and I have provided them with ways to read it without having to pay for it. How would you know that? Well you wouldn't' because you felt you had a banner to wave, and must like to be able to grandstand with your bunched up undies. Had YOU had the common decency of a private message instead of thinking that the whole world would agree with you, you might know that, you shit-for-brains asshat, and I really couldn't give a flying fuck if you don't want to read the rest of the story. In fact I don't want you to.

~pleasant smile~

oh wait... and she writes a further second review... it was one line, because I dare say it was meant to be that much more powerful... because the first bit of trash wasn't enough. This one was surely meant to burst me into flames. ~snickers~

"Horrible:How dare you try and sell your fan fiction. Disgusting... "

I fail to see why exactly it is disgusting. I am sure paid authors would disagree with you. And btw it is selling and people are leaving lovely reviews from around the globe. The U.S. isn't the big market to my surprise. These people haven't read it as a fan fiction, because it no longer is. It has been reworked you dumbass. Did you think I would risk being sued? The work stands on its own, as will its sequels.

Next time you feel like blasting someone else with your superiority bullshit, try being upfront about it and not a coward.

Wow.

What a complete fecking moron.


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